Surfer’s, sea, sun, sand and sand sculptures…

What better way to spend a sunny Sunday. It’s mid summer and we live in Australia’s tourist mecca. The beach is crowded with beautiful tanned bodies and the ocean is the perfect place to cool down.

The Gold Coast has 40 kilometres of pristine beaches and it’s not often we come to Surfer’s Paradise, preferring our own, usually, less crowded beach at Burleigh, but this weekend we have been drawn here to see the annual sand sculpting competition.

We first pass Peter Pan and Tinkerbell who are sheltering inside the Paradise Centre. Then it is out into the heat to join the crowds admiring the rest of the displays.

The winner

AFTER three days of battle, a New South Wales person has been crowned the 2015 Australian Sand Sculpting Champion.

Jino van Bruinessen was awarded the title on the Surfers Paradise Foreshore yesterday for his sculpture of Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Interpreting this year’s theme of ‘Magical Friendships’ featuring Disney, the winning sculpture weighed in at more than 10 tonnes and took around 26 hours to create.

Bruinessen pocketed $2500 and also won a second trophy for the People’s Choice Award.

Here are some of the other entries.

One of the sculptors is still putting her finishing touches to her creation.

No additives are put into the sand, only water. The sand is a heavy grade, also known as “brickies sand” and it comes from the mouth of rivers. It has more squarish grains and will stick together better than the fine sand found on the beaches.

The finished sculpture is sprayed with an environmentally-friendly biodegradable spray that gives them a water resistant coating.

This little fairy is fascinated with them.

I took this photo of the beach and when I downloaded onto the computer I discovered more sand creations. Can you see them?

I can’t make out what the one on the right is. Any suggestions?

These young Asian girls have just been out for a surfing lesson. Those are big boards for them to handle.

Late afternoon and the sun slowly sinks behind the hi-rise buildings giving some welcome relief in the shade.

It has been an interesting afternoon but I can see the golden arches of Macdonald’s tucked in among the hi-rise buildings.

did you ever figure what the third little sand creation was? a fairy with an orange cone hat?

and the girl in the blue dress – awe – great portrait shot – so nice….
❤

I also loved the shot of the surf class – brought back memories of when my boys did this. we paid extra so they could go out with the "surf school" because it is an experience – and whew, surfing is a lot of work. I also heard that larger boards (the longboard) are easier to get up on and paddle with – but I guess some experienced ones still like them too….

Could be a fairy, Jude sees it as Santa Claus on vacation and Sylvia thinks it could be a bishop, all good guesses…2 of Jacks boys are passionate surfers but now a days they do not have so much time for surfing. Jobs and family take up their time now…

yes – surfing can suck time up big time – so I can see why they do not get to do it too much while in family mode – esp. if the kids are young (whew was that an friend time) and thanks for sharing the other guesses – I sometimes get to read the other comments but did not this time – and I like both of them –

good photos, I went down there today at 6 am was good. took some photos on my android as forgot to charge my camera battery. silly me. They are well done the sand sculptures and loved the one that won. I also liked the one with the crocodile. My first time down to Surfers to see them usually see them at the shopping malls. This year they dont have one at the Pines as it is getting its big upgrade to bigger size. Thanks again for sharing your photos

Hi ! I’ve been challenged to post 5 black and white pictures in a row, one per day and each time I have to challenge someone to try that too, are you up for it ? Thanks in advance ! If you don’t want to it’s ok too ofcourse !

Oh yes, It is a BIG world and I’ve missed a few places, my greatest disappointment was not going to Sth America and I have not been to Africa. I think I am running out of time and energy for those places now… 😦

I was never interested in the Americas until a few years ago when I had the opportunity to go to the USA and discovered their amazing landscapes. I’m now considering South America, in particular Chile as those salt lakes fascinate me! Will have to be a tour though, can’t see me trying to do it independently.

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60 something female, ( now 70 I have been doing this blog 3 years) fit and active, loves travel, reading, walking. Born in Yorkshire, UK. Moved to New Zealand, love the country. Became a "Kiwi" lived there 37 years, son and daughter still live there. Moved to Australia because I now live with and love an Australian that I met in NZ and am now an Aussie citizen.